I just found your response…and I thank you for your time. I suppose the hardest thing for me to believe is that if she truly ingested such a lethal dose of meth, she would not have died peacefully they was they implied.

From a bit of research, it is rare that someone is found with their arms crossed over their chest; a even more so that they crossed their arms themselves before passing.

Again, I thank you for responding before…

Jennifer

Renee Fox was last seen alive deep in a canyon not too far from Death Valley June 24th, late afternoon (4:30-5:00) by a family that offered assistance that was refused, but Renee did except water.

She was later seen on the hwy, several miles away (considered to be true).

She may have also been spotted in the closest town getting more water in a store between 8:30-9:00pm (not fact).

Not too far from where she was last seen in the canyon, her purse was found the next day.

After 7 long weeks of searching for her, Renee’s remains were discovered back in the canyon. She was nude, most of her clothing missing, and her arms were crossed over her chest. I can’t say for sure, but apparently only 30% of her body remained, and it is rumored that there were no indications that any animals or birds had found her, even though she was exposed (not buried).

Renee had been battling a meth addiction. She preferred to smoke it. Renee weighed roughly 50 kilograms.

Supposedly, she ingested 4.2 milligrams per kilogram of methamphetamine and 1.8 mg/kg of
amphetamine. Is there a medical explanation to her arms being crossed over her chest?

Some newspaper quotes:
“He said pathologists believe Fox died “within minutes of taking the methamphetamine.” She apparently partially disrobed, laid down on the desert under a bush, crossed her arms over her chest, and died.”

“It appears that Fox, under the influence of methamphetamine, and possibly suffering heat-related ailments, removed her clothes to cool off. She then walked several yards to a tall bitter brush that could have provided some shade. She laid down in the bush and died.”

They believe she died that same day.

After 7 weeks exposed to extreme heat (and nighttime cold), can they really say for sure? There is so much more to all of this, but it could take days to explain, and I’ll be happy if you even read this email… for the heck of it, this website will tell you her story…and then some.
http://boards.crimelibrary.com/showthread.php?t=272350

Jennifer:

Even in a protected environment, the more time that passes after someone dies, the harder it is to say with any accuracy how much time has passed.  Generally the longer it’s been, the larger the range of the estimation.  For example, a man leaves for work in the morning and his wife is alive.  When he returns home in the afternoon, she is dead.  Several hours have passed, but according to the postmortem characteristics observed by the death investigator (degrees of rigor, livor, and algor mortis), they can only reasonably assume that she died 2-4 hours prior.  Let’s say that for some reason the wife isn’t found for a week and she has been dead so long that she is in the early stages of decomposition.  The postmortem characteristics listed above are of no use and the investigator can only resonably assume that she died between say 48 and 72 hours prior to being found.  So you can see that in as little as two days, the estimation of postmortem interval or “window of death” has gone from a range of 2 hours to 24 hours.  Of course, each scenario above takes place in an indoor environment.  These estimates are typically even broader in range when there are extremes like you described.  Depending on the condition of the body, the estimate may be as broad as weeks, months, or years.  I can only assume their estimate is based primarily on the time she was last known alive.  That said, I can only assume they felt she died that same day because of the amount of drug in her system combined with the compromising effects of exposure.

A Douglas